Grace (Guckenburg) Carlson

Grace (Guckenburg) Carlson

Grace (Guckenburg) Carlson, 90, died Saturday morning, Oct. 29, 2011, at Immanuel Lutheran Home, with her daughter and son-in-law comforting her.

Her funeral will be held at 3 p. m. on Friday, Nov. 4, at Bethlehem Lutheran in Kalispell. A reception will follow at the Split Rock Cafe in Kalispell. Grace's ashes will be scattered on the family ranch in Choteau in the spring.

Grace was born in Havre on April 20, 1921, and graduated from high school there in 1939. She was the first one in her family to continue on to college.

She earned her degree as a registered nurse from Deaconess Consolidated School of Nursing at Montana State College (now MSU) in Bozeman. She worked as a registered nurse for a year in Bozeman, and then joined the U. S. Navy Nurse Corps to see the world, and ended up in Farragut, Idaho, for one-and-a-half years.

While going to school in Bozeman, she met a young electrical engineering student from Choteau. She traveled to Ithaca, N.Y., by herself and married Martin "Mike" Carlson on Aug. 25, 1944. Mike was stationed by the U. S. Navy at Cornell University, where he was teaching diesel engineering. Mike was transferred to Brooklyn Naval Yard in New York, and that is where her oldest son, Martin Jr., was born. Next they moved to Denver, where Mike was teaching electrical engineering at Denver University. This is where Mary Ann and Marjorie were born. Bismarck, N.D., was their next stop; Mike worked for the Bureau of Reclamation. Youngest son, Marc, was born there. A promotion in the bureau moved them to Montrose, Colo., where they lived until moving to Bigfork in 2000. Health issues and the desire to be closer to their daughters motivated them to move. Mike and Grace were married for 59 years.

Grace worked as an RN at the St. Alexius Hospital in Bismarck, and also did private duty nursing. She continued nursing in Montrose.

Grace's passions were God and her church, sewing, gardening, quilting, reading, playing bridge, knitting, raising children and traveling. She and Mike were able to travel the world after his retirement. Trips to China, South America, Australia, New Zealand, Europe, Africa, Galapagos Islands, Greece, Saudi Arabia, India and Scandinavia were highlights.

Survivors include one sister, Berniece Marler of Boise, Idaho; sisters-in-law, Doris (George) McMurray of Choteau and Helena, and Pat Guckenburg of St. George, Utah; her four children, Marty and Antje Carlson of Anchorage, Alaska, Dr. Mary Ann Carlson of Columbia Falls, Marj and Brad Nelson of Bigfork, and Marc and Sheila Carlson of Wausau, Wis. ; seven grandchildren; and eight great-grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her parents; brothers, Carl and Ed Guckenburg; and her beloved husband Mike, on Sept. 23, 2003.

Grace lived a long and wonderful life and will be missed by many. We would like to thank all who helped her in her final years; the staff at Buffalo Hills Terrace and Immanuel Lutheran were special.

In celebrating her life, memorials may be sent to the Flathead Lutheran Bible Camp or charities of your choice.